IN THE NEWS
Daily Herald - September 7, 2000
Naperville lawyer makes top 10 list
A Naperville attorney is the only lawyer in Illinois to make an esteemed top 10 list.
The National Law Journal named Kathleen Zellner as one of the best trial lawyers in the nation.
The publication sifted through thousands of jury verdicts in compiling its list. Editors point out Zellner always out-prepares her opposition and often persuades jurors to her viewpoint.
Indeed. Zellner Kathleen won five civil jury Zellner verdicts totaling $15.8 million for her clients hetween March of 1999 and 2000.
Among them, jurors awarded $2.2 million to a woman who was raped while working in the Chicago Bar Association building.
Zellner sued the management group, even subpoenaing the convicted rapist from prison to testify on her client's behalf in the civil case.
Much of her 17-year career took place in a criminal courtroom. Among her cases, Zellner got a client off death row after proving someone else committed the murder.
The law journal's list includes such noted attorneys as New York's David Boies, who served as lead counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice in the federal antitrust action against Microsoft Corp.
"I'm excited to be among those attorneys," Zellner said. "It makes me very optimistic for the future that they recognize me at this level because I really just started out with civil cases."
She already has eight trials lined up in the coming 14 months.
